In 1905, Fillipo Marinetti was proclaiming in one of his futurist manifestos the following quote: “On 11 October 1908, having worked for six years at my international magazine Poesia, in an attempt to free the Italian lyrical genius that was under sentence of death from its traditional and commercial fetters, I suddenly felt that articles, poetry and controversies were no longer enough. It was absolutely crucial to switch methods, get out into the streets, lay siege to theaters, and introduce the fisticuffs into the artistic struggle. My Italian blood raced faster when my lips coined out loud the word FUTURISM.(…) It was a youthful and innovative banner, anti-traditional, optimistic, heroic and dynamic, that had to be hoisted over the ruins of all attachment to the past.” The idea of switching methods was taken by Philippe McKie and was updated to be user friendly in the twenty first century, and the result can be easily observed in 'Breaker', a short movie that transcends the barriers of normality into a world where thoughts can play along with robots and seasons are exchanging cigarettes with wild animals.
The story has its absurd background with some elegant kitsch elements that are enhancing the whole plot. In terms of technicalities, this short is flawless and we are saying that because it is hard enough to spot when the director is serious and when he is sarcastic. In 'Breaker', the line between good crazy and wild crazy is almost unforeseeable, the viewer has to feel this short rather than be focused on the details as it is in old school Victorian-like shorts that are building a story in a deadly serious manner. 'Breaker' is playful, iit s a breath of fresh air in an industry filled with the arrogant attitude of ”my movie is great and if you can’t see it, it’s because you don’t understand art”. And imagine this said in a high pitched voice. As bombastic as it looks, 'Breaker' is basically the oasis of normality we were looking for.
The craziness of this short is remarkable and we were mind blown by the whole color spectrum, along with the shadow and light play. We’ve seen sci-fi’s, we’ve seen avant-garde movies, but 'Breaker' is somewhere beyond this combination, having a tint of every little subgenre you could ever think of, and at the same time, being a poem with the heart of the beats and the critical writing of the new French Marxism. Talking about technical details is redundant here, having said the whole philosophy in the previous lines; flawless cinematography and edit, great screenplay – all the elements are mixed in a big-bang of emotions and color. A real modern day cult short that is awaiting the public establishment!
Written by Vlad A. G